Join Our Mailing List

please enable browser's Javascript to use the Hit Counter tool.Powered by

I was just listening to Neil Young's old song,” Heart of Gold,” and it reminded me of a story I used to tell at the Opening the Heart Workshop several years ago when the workshop was a much longer event than it is now..

It's a story about a diamond merchant in India. The merchant had gone to Delhi to purchase a huge and very expensive diamond. A clever thief had been waiting for his opportunity to steal the same diamond from the very store where the merchant had just purchased it.” No problem,” thought the thief,” I am the best pickpocket in all India.” He followed the merchant to the train station, finding several opportunities to brush against him in the crowded street. Each time he slipped his hand into one of the diamond merchant's pockets, but it was to no avail, the thief could not find the diamond anywhere. Frustrated, he used the last of his money to purchase a train ticket on the same train as the merchant. The journey was a long one, and soon the merchant dozed off. The thief searched through all the merchant's belongings. Again he came up empty-handed.

Eventually, the train pulled up at the merchant's destination. He collected his belongings and left the carriage. Overcome with curiosity, the thief could not contain himself.

” Sir,” he said,” I have to admit to you that I am a thief and I have followed you all the way from Delhi, trying to steal the diamond that you bought there. I beg you, tell me where you hid it.”

The merchant smiled a knowing smile.

” I recognized that you were a thief the very moment I saw you at the jeweler's shop. I knew that you were probably a skilled pickpocket. The only thing I could think to do was to hide the diamond where you would never think to look for it.”

With that, the diamond dealer reached across and retrieved the diamond from the thief's own pocket.

We search "the world" looking for our "Heart of Gold" while, all the time, it is right here inside us. If we spent less time stressing and struggling, looking for happiness outside
ourselves, we would be more likely to notice that we already have everything we need. Instead of being frustrated "theives of happiness," constantly searching for the big prize, we could turn around and look for the treasure hidden in our own heart.